Sunday, June 10, 2007

rail gaadi.. rail gaadi.

In case the title gives the ring of an overenthusiatic account of a train trip from the eyes of a child ,to follow.. well .. ur tympanum is in perfect working condition.:-)
It all started when I boarded the Executive Class ac chair car of the Shatabdi Express (sounds grand..? ought to.. thats the whole point behind mentioning it in the first place) for the first time in my life.First thing done after boarding was to stand mesmerised by the sheer size of the windows.. to give a brief idea of how huge it was.. well .. a family of four with healthy eating habits and no gigantism being passed on as a heirloom could jump out in tandem using the window as an emergency exit.Sat down and paid full attention to the firangs and dirangs (that will be desis with a firangi attitude..) streaming in.Its at this point that the unmistakable smell of cowdung wafted in along with the people.The only explanation that seemed feasible was that the firangs, with their fascination for anything which projected India in the rural light ,had managed to procure from somewhere a perfume that captured the essence of dung.This kept me occupied for like around fifteen minutes till the train left the station.Have this irrepressible urge to look out of the window and give the impression that nothin else is of greater importance to me than whats goin on outside till the time the person next to me offers his window seat ,post which it s burying my nose into a book till its getting down time.Heard that there s even a word coined for this sort of behaviour.. so I guess its ok.Anyway paani chai and khaana .. in that order exactly..were served at hourly intervals.Guess its a preconceived notion or a result of constant monitoring of food habits that all people who pay more to travel are essentially certified gluttons.. though I concede at this point that there ARE a select bunch always present who seek to do full justice to the money they did paid by way of munch.
Lamba safar tha.. nature ne beech mein bulaya.. hum bhi chal diye and was in for a rude shock.The cubicle designed for the purpose by god knows who measured not more than 3ft by 3 ft by 10ft inclusive of all everything.Ought to have had a sticker proclaiming "strictly for anorexics" stuck on the door. I seriously felt that it would have been definitely put to better use for warmup sessions by a contortionist.Anyway fitted myself in somehow and then came rude shock part II .Where in the name of God were the good old mechanisms.Green buttons all around the place and by the time one could decipher what was for what, the sphincter had decided that the overworked brain needed a break..(in other words.. teh urge to pee had passed..).
Travellin in luxury with too many comforts is decidedly not for me.. no wonder my long distance travel plans dont seem to be materialising..:-).By the way the route was from Delhi to Amritsar and in case I forgot to mention.. the passing by scenery of lush green fields the whole way..(yeah the whole way.. admit monotony set in after a while..)was a treat to the eyes..:-D

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I wish I had a language as good as yours..really a good piece of work